Piece by Piece
by GilmoreDanes1
Summary: Post-AYITL. Scenes that show piece by piece how important Luke is to Rory


Luke felt bad exploiting the Gilmores' weakness when it came to Rory's pregnancy, but he had somehow become her favorite punching bag. Food was literally his only defense at times, and he found pretty early into her pregnancy that a good combatant to Rory's crabbiness was food.

That is, when his methods weren't back firing on him.

"You're _trying_ to make me fat, Luke," Rory accused, pushing the full plate away from her. She wasn't at her full anger potential, but she was definitely annoyed. Her baby bump was more pronounced at 18 weeks than she thought possible, and the scale was taking a definite hit. Plus, she had found her first stretch mark _ever_ that morning.

Luke placed his hands on his hips and stared down at his step-daughter. Without argument, he picked up the plate and took it back into the kitchen.

Immediate frustration welled within Rory, and she downed her half-caff, "normal" sized coffee and gathered her things. With a huff, she snatched a plain cake donut out of the case on the counter and ignored Luke's protests as she stomped out of the diner. She knew she was being a brat and completely unfair to Luke, but it was like she literally could not stop herself.

Later that night, when Lorelai dropped a plate of grilled chicken salad in front of where Rory was outlining her book long-hand on a legal pad, Rory snapped at her mom as well. "Rabbit food my punishment?"

Lorelai crossed her arms over her chest and studied her (formerly) sweet baby girl. "You're taking out your frustration on Luke," she finally pointed out.

"You're taking his side?" Rory demanded hotly. Tears came hot and fast, doing nothing but flaming her frustration.

"Hon," Lorelai said, softening. "Luke is _trying._ He stopped serving eggs in the diner because the smell makes you gag, babe. In the _diner_. Where breakfast is his biggest seller. I know you're hormonal, but you've gotta give him a break."

Guilt choked Rory and she covered her face. "I don't know why I keep being so mean to him," she admitted. "Every time he does something for me, I get overwhelmed and—I—vitriol spills out."

Understanding clouded Lorelai's face, but she still felt protective of her soft-hearted husband. "Stop and think, kid. If you want him to stop doing things for you, communicate."

"That's the pot calling the kettle black," Rory snapped before she could stop herself. She groaned in frustration. "I didn't mean that, mom. I need to lock myself in a cave for the next five months."

"I could probably find a dragon guarded tower," Lorelai offered blandly. Like Luke, she didn't really take offense to Rory's remarks, but also like Luke, the comments hurt her feelings.

"I will work on not being a jerk to the people around me," Rory offered apologetically. "I'm frustrated and overwhelmed, but it's not your fault and it's certainly not Luke's. I'll even eat this pile of vegetables and not complain that his coffee is way more than half decaf."

"Hey, whoa, don't push yourself to resentment there." She brushed a kiss to her daughter's forehead. "Luke made chocolate coconut cookies for when you're done."

A fresh wave of tears hit Rory. The truth was that Luke was a big reminder of what she didn't have as a child and what her child wouldn't have either. When he did something like bake cookies that she randomly remembered and craved ("Hey Luke remember those chocolate-y coconut-y cookies from that one Easter when I was like 14?"), it just hit her how much she wished that he had been there from the beginning. Of course, her frustration with Logan and her own dad, made infinitely worse by reliving it every day in her writing, was what ended up being taken out on him. "I'll be out in a bit," she promised, trying to get herself together.

'''''

Finding out they were having another Gilmore Girl was both exciting and nerve-wracking.

"A girl, huh?" Logan laughed as he studied the ultrasound Rory held up to the camera. "Looks like she can escape the Huntzberger male expectations, Ace."

An immediate awkward silence fell between them, and Rory felt foolish for wanting Logan to be the first besides her mom to know the sex of their baby.

Logan sighed. "Rory-"

"I have to go," Rory cut him off. She closed the laptop without bothering to exit Skype.

Logan's first reaction when she had told him about the pregnancy was to propose. For half a moment, her heart had soared, but reality quickly crashed down at Logan's second reaction—worry about what his dad would say.

Since then, the many talks about how Rory wouldn't understand the expectations placed on Logan really cemented her need to protect her child. Gone was the formidable young man who was so willing to part with his family and start his own business. When that had blown up in his face, he had to rely on his dad a lot more than he wanted to and things had gotten twisted to the point where he didn't even want to disappoint him. The parallels between Christopher and Logan made Rory physically ill when she put too much thought into it.

"Oh, incubator," Lorelai sang, "Your grandmother awaits!" She stepped onto the porch with Rory's coat draped over her arm. "Luke has to meet us there. Caesar is-" It took a second for Rory's stony face to break through her chatter, but she cut herself off. Her very demeanor oozed pity when she realized what the laptop's presence meant.

"Let's go, mom," Rory snapped before Lorelai could say something nice or sympathetic. "Grandma's waiting to know the sex of the baby."

Lorelai sent a quick text to Luke while Rory put her laptop away, and she smiled brightly when Rory came back out. "Let's go tell Grandma that the tradition continues!"

It wasn't too difficult to perk up on the way to the restaurant and by the time the maitre'd led them to the table, Rory was excited again. "Grandma!" She hugged her grandmother and pulled away. "You look amazing!"

Emily was glowing with happiness, and she reached out to rub Rory's rounded belly. "You look amazing, dear. The computer does you no justice."

Lorelai felt completely choked up as she witnessed her mother doting on Rory. It didn't escape her notice that she felt jealous of her own daughter. Before she could get too wrapped up in her emotions, Luke's familiar hand slipped into hers and squeezed quickly. She huffed out a somewhat tearful laugh as he let go and leaned forward to awkwardly greet Emily. He always seemed to know when she needed him the most.

"So?" Luke asked impatiently when they were all seated. He was fairly anxious to find out the sex of the baby, as Lorelai refused to even be in his presence that day lest she let it slip.

Rory laughed at her step-father's impatience and nodded to Lorelai, who held out gift bags to both Emily and Luke.

Luke choked out a laugh when he pulled out a pink and purple plaid onesie that simply read "Papa's girl" in gold lettering. He grinned at Lorelai and pretended he wasn't completely overtaken with emotion. His eyes slid to Emily, whose eyes were glittering with tears as she stared down at a picture frame. It was definitely a lot more tacky than the Gilmore taste, with pink rhinestones, but Emily's fingers were dancing over the frame as if were made of the finest materials.

"Another girl in a line of girls!" Lorelai burst out in the silence. She bounced in her seat and clapped excitedly. "We're having a granddaughter!"

Rory laughed and allowed her mom to regal Emily and Luke with tales of their post-doctor appointment shopping excursion. It was amazing to get to share this with the people who meant the most.

Luke was swollen with pride, and he kept beaming down at the little outfit that Lorelai had specifically made for him on short notice that day. They were going to originally do the same thing for both Emily and Luke, but neither could resist when they came across the plaid onesie.

"Have you thought of names?" Emily asked. "I assume you aren't going to name her after your mother."

Rory laughed and changed the subject.

'''''''

Rory slapped her hand down on the table, startling Lorelai into spilling her coffee. Luke crossed his arms over his chest defensively when Rory's fiery eyes focused on him.

"Coconut flour has a different texture, Luke! Stop trying to switch my meat with turkey and quit messing with my milkshakes!"

Standing was a lot more difficult than the drama queen in her wished it was, and the shocked look on Luke's and Lorelai's faces when she snatched Lorelai's cup and gulped it almost made her falter. "And sometimes I just want a cup of fully caffeinated coffee!" Even as her chest hurt with the flood of guilt, Rory stormed (see: waddled) out of the diner angrily.

"What were you doing to her milkshakes?" Lorelai asked in the dead silence following her daughter's dramatic exit. She shrugged when Luke scowled at her. "Hormones?"

''''''''

In the final weeks before Rory was due to give birth as well as get her last few chapters to her editor, Luke gave her a wide berth. He tried to have healthy meals for her to heat and eat since sneaking different things into her milkshakes back fired to Lorelai's level. ("You've been putting yogurt and spinach into my milkshakes for _years_?") Some days, she ate nothing but cereal, but some days she ate what he made.

The night before Rory's big appointment with her editor, Luke and Lorelai bickered their way into the kitchen to find Rory sobbing over her laptop. Luke began backing away as Lorelai went forward to comfort her daughter, but Luke very suddenly found a sobbing pregnant woman in his arms.

"I'm sorry," Rory wailed. She was sobbing too hard to actually get any words out, so Luke just wrapped his arms around her and held her as she cried.

Lorelai watched helplessly as her husband tried to comfort her daughter. It was heart warming that he would do his utmost to comfort Rory even though strong emotional reactions tended to freak him out. She wandered over to the laptop to see if she could see what set her off and she sighed. "Oh, hon."

Luke held Rory close and smoothed back her hair. "It's okay," he murmured. His eyes met Lorelai's over Rory's head and she shook her head.

Rory kept her face covered as her sobs began to subside. "I'm so glad that my daughter is going to have you as a Papa."

Lorelai walked over and rubbed Rory's back. "Watching the live performance makes it hit you harder."

Luke looked completely confused when Rory choked out a self-deprecating laugh. "I fell into a YouTube spiral and ended up on auditions," she admitted without leaving the safety of Luke's arms. She sniffled and sighed before moving away.

Lorelai pulled Rory into a hug before pushing her back and wiping at her face. "Honestly, the first time I heard it I thought of you and Luke as well."

Rory laughed self consciously and pushed her mom's hands away. "You explain to Luke why I just threw myself into his arms and cried like a crazy person, and I will go wash my face."

Lorelai took Luke's hand and pulled him over to the kitchen table. She then pushed him into the chair in front of Rory's computer and pressed play on the YouTube video that was paused on the screne.

"Piece by Piece," Luke muttered as Lorelai restarted the video. He watched Kelly Clarkson standing on a stage singing. He always secretly loved her voice, but—the lyrics started to sink in and he glanced up at Lorelai. She smiled sympathetically and kissed his forehead, and they both turned back to watch the rest of the video.

Luke's heart went out to Kelly as she broke down in the midst of singing her song. Whenever she was done singing, and the crowd was going wild, Lorelai reached and paused the video. Rory was standing in the door way with her hands resting on her stomach, eyes downcast, so she was startled when Luke swept her back into his arms.

"I love you like you were my own, Rory," he said gruffly, "and I will love your daughter like she's my own as well. You've always been worth everything, kid."

Rory dissolved into tears again, and Lorelai joined in on the family hug as she got choked up as well.

'''''''

"It's too early, right?" Luke asked anxiously as he sped to the hospital. "I mean, she's only 37 weeks. That's too early isn't it?"

Lorelai bounced nervously in her seat. "No, Luke, she's nearly there. I mean, I don't know if it's really considered full term, but I'm pretty sure the baby is fine." She could not seem to sit still and wished grandpa Luke would step up his speeding game. "I can't believe she went into labor during her big meeting with her editor. I can't believe I'm not the one that gets to drive her to the hospital."

Luke pulled into the hospital parking lot and grabbed Lorelai's arm before she could bolt out of the moving jeep. "Wait until I'm parked, Lorelai."

It was a genuine struggle for Lorelai to stay put while Luke navigated the parking garage. As soon as the car was in park, she had the door thrown open and was bolting to the parking garage entrance. "Don't worry, I got the bags," Luke called out. Lorelai waved at him without turning back, knowing he would catch up.

A little less than ten minutes later, Luke entered Rory's room with her bag, the baby's bag, and the "entertainment" bag she and Lorelai packed, which was approximately 50 lbs. He drew up short to find Lorelai standing by Rory's bed as she was apparently breathing her way through a contraction and two men trying to figure out how to get into a locked cabinet.

Rory spotted Luke whose attention was on Colin and Finn and sat up quickly. "Hey, Luke," she said cheerfully. "Glad to see you brought my bags."

Luke's narrowed eyes slid from the two men to his step-daughter. "Who are they?" he asked bluntly.

Finn spun around and bowed graciously. "I'm Finn-"

"And I'm Colin," Colin cut in, holding his hand out and adopting his "impress the family" manners.

Luke stared at the outstretched hand and looked between the two. "Are you high?" he asked Finn.

Lorelai chortled and Rory covered her face. "They're fine, hon. They're friends of Logan's."

That did nothing to ease Luke's mind, and in fact made him that much more wary. "Maybe you guys should wait in the waiting room."

Colin nodded and clapped Finn on the back. "Come on, Finn, I'm sure we can find a few nurses to fall in love with."

Finn held out his arms dramatically to Rory. "Don't like the little lady make her appearance without me."

Luke stepped out of the way as they made their exit and turned back to the Gilmore Girls.

"They're harmless, Luke," Rory assured him.

"I can't believe they were here before me," Lorelai said petulantly. She sat down on the edge of Rory's bed and took her hand. Rory's face contorted in pain and she squeezed Lorelai's hand tightly as she breathed her way through the contraction.

"They just happened to be at the restaurant I was meeting my editor-"

"Just happened," Luke muttered as he arranged the bags in the corner wardrobe.

Lorelai rolled her eyes at her husband and gestured for Rory to continue. "So what happened exactly?"

"My water broke when they were bringing out the main course," Rory said blandly. "We were discussing some of the main points of the book, and I literally thought I peed myself."

"Ah, jeez," Luke muttered. He had heard enough about bodily fluids during Rory's pregnancy to last a lifetime.

"Colin and Finn swooped in out of nowhere whenever I really realized what was going on, and then I was on the way here."

"How far apart are your contractions?" Lorelai asked. "How much are you dilated?"

Rory glanced at Luke who was studying the white board detailing her birth plan and trying to ignore them. "It seems like they are four to five minutes apart and lasting nearly a minute. I am still only dilated to a one."

Lorelai nodded thoughtfully. "Can you get up and walk?"

Luke took that as his cue to step out of the room. "I'm going to go call the diner and check up on Caesar," he said, pointing needlessly toward the door.

''''''''

Almost fifteen hours later, when the epidural was beginning to wear off on her right side and she still wasn't dilating, the doctor finally came in and told Rory they would need to do a cesarean.

Rory collapsed against the bed in tears as the doctor explained that she had a muscle that wasn't allowing her to dilate as she should be. Her eyes sought her mom's and she looked so hopeless that Lorelai stepped out of Luke's arms and around the doctor to put her arms around her daughter.

"We want to go ahead and take you back," the doctor was saying. "You'll have your baby girl in your arms within the next hour, Miss Gilmore."

Emily stepped forward and began arguing with the doctor about what else they could do beyond major surgery, so Luke stepped to Rory's other side and took her hand. "You're going to do fine," he said, somewhat awkwardly. "April says that something like one in four births these days are by cesarean so they have really perfected the surgery."

Rory didn't have time to freak out much more after that because she was suddenly talking to her anesthesiologist again and another male nurse who referred to himself as the pusher ("I'm basically going to push from your rib cage to give Dr. Lamb an assist as he pulls baby Gilmore out.")

Before she really knew it, she was in a freezing cold operating room with Lorelai by her head, feeling as if her organs were being moved around. "I can't feel the pain of it," Rory said to her mom, "but I can feel them moving things around."

Seconds later it seemed, a small cry sounded out, and Rory began crying at the sound. "Oh, babe," Lorelai whispered. She looked down at her daughter, her blue eyes leaking tears.

"Go to her," Rory urged around sobs. "Make sure she's okay." She turned her head and watched as the nurses worked to clean her baby and do the necessary measurements and such.

Lorelai was holding her little hand as tears fell steadily from her eyes. "Five pounds, eleven ounces," she relayed. "Only eighteen inches long and so much blonde hair."

"Let's go meet your mom," one of the nurses said to the little girl.

Rory cried harder when she saw her baby's face for the first time. She could feel that the doctors were still doing things to her stomach, but she only had eyes for her baby. Lorelai took over holding her from the nurse and held the baby against Rory's face to get a small bit of skin to skin contact.

"We have to take her to the nursery now," the nurse finally broke in.

Rory's eyes met her mom's, and Lorelai gave her a few seconds more to kiss her before handing her over. "Go with her," Rory urged.

"I don't want to leave you alone," Lorelai argued.

"I don't want you to leave _her_ alone. Please, mom." Rory closed her eyes when Lorelai kissed her forehead and watched as they exited the room. She lay there, freezing as the nurse, the "pusher," the doctor, and the anesthesiologist worked around her.

It seemed like hours before she was finally back in her room, but the nurse let her know it had been less than thirty minutes. Within moments of her arrival, the nurses brought her baby in and helped her unwrap her and put her against her chest inside her gown.

Rory cried softly when baby girl Gilmore raised her little head as if it was nothing at looked into her eyes. "Hi, baby," she said tearfully.

Lorelai captured that picture immediately when she walked in. She already had about twenty pictures on her phone of her little granddaughter. "Your grandmother wants to storm the maternity ward. They wouldn't let her in the nursery to see the baby up close and personally, and they won't let her back here until you give the go ahead."

Rory was counting fingers and toes and looking her baby over. "I just need a little more time with her before everyone else comes in."

"Do you want me to leave?" Lorelai asked. The emotions from the day were getting to her, and she was on the verge of tears as she watched her baby with _her_ baby.

"No, mom." Rory looked up from her baby and held out her hand. "Have you gotten to see her yet?"

"I was with her the whole time," Lorelai assured her. "I haven't held her yet besides when I showed her to you, and I don't even know her name, but she hasn't been alone."

Rory squeezed Lorelai's hand and gently moved to cradle the baby in her hands. "Emma Leigh Gilmore, meet your grandmother."

Lorelai choked on her tears as she took the baby in her arms. "Following in the tradition of naming her after her mother," she said approvingly. She blinked back tears and cuddled the baby close. "Your grandmother is going to love it too."

After Rory fed Emma for the first time, the nurses came back in to take the baby. "Is the father here to give Emma her first bath?" one of them asked kindly.

Rory cleared her throat. "Um, actually, can my dad, or uh step-dad, do it?"

Lorelai covered her mouth to hide her grin as the nurse nodded her affirmative. Luke was going to melt into a puddle of goo. Since he didn't get to have those experiences with his own daughter, it was amazing of Rory to give him the chance with hers.

Luke was startled and completely awe-struck when Lorelai came to get him to take him to give their granddaughter her first bath. He held her carefully as the nurses walked him through bathing baby Emma. He got choked up and felt foolish as he cradled her little head, knowing Lorelai was documenting his every emotion.

''''''''

The second day home was really, really difficult for everyone involved. Emma had eaten like a champ all throughout the hospital stay. The lactation consultant had found nothing wrong with the latch, and everything went perfectly. Rory was sent home with information on cluster feeding, resources on breast feeding support, and numbers for local lactation consultants. She was hurting but feeling amazing about feeding her little girl.

The first night at home was difficult, but Emma eventually latched and got enough to help her sleep some through the night. First thing the next day, though, everything went to hell. Rory was still feeling reasonably confident about her ability to feed Emma, but within an hour or two of her not latching, her confidence was gone and she was crying along with the baby.

Lorelai came home immediately at Rory's distressed call, having run to the inn for just a few hours. She ran in to find Rory trying to force Emma's little mouth to latch onto her nipple. She kneeled in front of her and talked her through different nursing positions, lightly stroking Emma's little face to try to calm her. "It looks like your milk is coming in, babe," Lorelai said soothingly. "You need to calm down, though, sweetie. Your distress is causing _her_ distress."

Rory legitimately could not stop crying. "I can do this. I know I can."

"I know you can," Lorelai said soothingly. "You have been doing this, but you need to take a breath. I'll take Emma and see if she needs to be changed. You go wash your face and grab some water."

"No, mom," Rory argued, unwilling to release her baby. "I can do this!"

Lorelai backed off. "Okay, babe. I'll go grab you some water and you keep trying."

Rory took a deep breath between sobs and tried to calm herself. "I know you know how to latch, baby. Please just eat, okay?"

Lorelai backed out of the room and grabbed the phone to call Luke. "She's completely panicked," she said when he answered. "Both of them are crying and neither of them can calm down enough to get food into her."

"I'll be home in a few minutes," Luke promised. He hung up the phone and grabbed Caesar as he walked by to tell him he needed to go.

Luke walked in to utter chaos. Rory was loudly and obviously sobbing in her room as she was begging Emma to eat, and Lorelai was begging Rory to take a small break and eat.

After quickly assessing the situation, Luke grabbed the folder containing all the information they had given Rory when she left the hospital and found the number to the local lactation consultants.

Ten minutes later, Luke was kneeling in front of Rory, ignoring the fact that she was trying to breast feed and held out a bottle. Rory covered her eyes with her hand. "You don't think I can do it," she choked out. She willingly handed the little girl over and rehooked her nursing bra.

Luke passed the bottle and baby to Lorelai and grabbed the grilled cheese and glass of ice water he had sat on her desk. "You both need a break. I called Nurse Elizabeth from the hospital and she explained that hunger is a new experience for Emma so she's panicking and it's making it impossible for her to latch. Once she gets that little bit in her, and you both take a minute, you can try again okay?"

Rory cried her way through the grilled cheese and by the time she had the water completely drank, she felt infinitely better. She took her sleeping baby girl back from her mom and cuddled her close. "I'm going to try to get a nap in while she's sleeping," she said hoarsely.

Lorelai kissed Rory's forehead, and Luke grabbed the dishes to take to the kitchen. He barely had them in the sink when his arms were full of Lorelai. "You're the most amazing man I have ever known," she said, voice muffled. "And to think, breast feeding once freaked you out."

Luke kissed the top of Lorelai's head and sighed. "It still freaks me out," he admitted. "It was all I could do to even walk into the room, but she needed to hear what the consultant said. She also needed to eat and sleep. I am going to go pick up a pump so we won't need to resort to formula again if there's anymore panicking."

Lorelai cupped Luke's face and kissed him softly. "I love you, and I am so glad you're Emma's Papa."

Luke huffed out a laugh and wrapped his hands around Lorelai's wrists. "I love you too, Crazy Lady."

A few hours later, Rory walked out of her room with Emma swaddled and resting comfortably in her arms. "She latched just fine when she woke up," Rory said, slightly disgruntled. "I feel a lot better, too."

Lorelai smiled at her daughter. "Luke went to get some burgers and make sure Caesar can handle closing tonight."

Rory passed the baby over and collapsed into a kitchen chair. "Luke really is our life saver. I am so glad you married him."

"A diamond in the rough," Lorelai agreed, nuzzling Emma's little face. "He got a breast pump for you so we don't have to do formula again."

"Hopefully we don't have many more days like today," Rory said. She laid her head down on the table. "I can't believe you had to convince me to stay here until she was a little more established in this world. I don't know what I would have done if today had happened in my own place."

"The same thing that happened," Lorelai said, leaning down and kissing her forehead. "You would have called me and then I would have called Luke, who would swoop in and save the day."

"I did not save the day," Luke interjected from the doorway. "I just made a phone call, which either of you would have done with a little more time."

Lorelai shook her head. "And he's so humble too."

"The perfect man," Rory agreed, sitting up and peering eagerly into the bag of takeout containers.

Luke stepped into Rory's room and grabbed the vibrating bouncer to put Victoria in so they could eat.


End file.
